Secretary of Foreign Relations
Joel Dueck
Humans, like dogs and dolphins, are social creatures, but through literacy
The secretary, a compartmentalized working-space, may be thought of as the RSS reader of the past. (Historic Fort Snelling, MN; photo by the author) we have been able to make use of our need for company in ways which do not depend on presence. In correspondence, in reading, in thought structured upon and exchanged through paper, we invented and cultivated a wholly new pleasure: one which combines solitary reflection with conversation.
It’s not true to say this particular pleasure is the attraction of print, of the web, of social media, of podcasts. But it’s why I—and, maybe, you—keep them around, and continue to scavenge them.
Poems
- Homes by Charlotte Anna Perkins Gilman
- Two Voices in a Meadow by Richard Wilbur